2and Sarai said to her husband, Lo! the Lord hath closed me, that I should not bear child; enter thou [in] to my servantess, if in hap I shall take children, namely of her. And when he assented to her praying,

3she took Hagar the Egyptian, her servantess, after ten years after that they began to inhabit the land of Canaan, and she gave Hagar as [a] wife to her husband.

4And Abram entered [in] to Hagar; and Hagar saw that she had conceived, and she despised her lady.

5And Sarai said to Abram, Thou doest wickedly against me; I gave my servantess into thy bosom, which seeth that she [hath] conceived, and despiseth me; the Lord deem betwixt me and thee.

6And Abram answered and said to her, Lo! thy servantess is in thine hand; use thou her as thee liketh. Therefore for Sarai tormented her, she fled away.

7And when the angel of the Lord had found her beside a well of water in wilderness, which well is in the way of Shur in desert,

8he said to her, From whence comest thou Hagar, the servantess of Sarai, and whither goest thou? Which answered, I flee from the face of Sarai, my lady.

9And the angel of the Lord said to her, Turn thou again to thy lady, and be thou meeked under her hands.

10And again he said, I multiplying shall multiply thy seed, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11And afterward he said, Lo! thou hast conceived, and thou shalt bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Ishmael, for the Lord hath heard thy torment;

12this shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against all men, and the hands of all men shall be against him; and he shall set his tabernacles even against all his brethren.

13Forsooth Hagar called the name of the Lord that spake to her, Thou God that sawest me; for she said, Forsooth here I saw the hinder things of him that saw me.

14Therefore she called that well, The well of him that liveth and seeth me; that well is betwixt Kadesh and Bered.

15And Hagar childed a son to Abram, which called his name Ishmael.

16Abram was eighty years and six, when Hagar childed Ishmael to him.

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Genesis 16

Hagar and Ishmael

1Abram's wife Sarai had not borne him any children. But she had an Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, 2and so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Why don't you sleep with my slave? Perhaps she can have a child for me.” Abram agreed with what Sarai said. 3So she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine. (This happened after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years.) 4Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she found out that she was pregnant, she became proud and despised Sarai.

5Then Sarai said to Abram, “It's your fault that Hagar despises me.#16.5 It's your fault… me; or May you suffer for this wrong done against me. I myself gave her to you, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has despised me. May the LORD judge which of us is right, you or me!”

6Abram answered, “Very well, she is your slave and under your control; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so cruelly that she ran away.

7The angel of the LORD met Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur 8and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”

She answered, “I am running away from my mistress.”

9He said, “Go back to her and be her slave.” 10Then he said, “I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them. 11You are going to have a son, and you will name him Ishmael,#16.11 ishmael: This name in Hebrew means “God hears”. because the LORD has heard your cry of distress. 12But your son will live like a wild donkey; he will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live apart from all his relatives.”

13Hagar asked herself, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?”#16.13 Probable text lived to tell about it?; Hebrew unclear. So she called the LORD who had spoken to her “A God who Sees”. 14That is why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered “The Well of the Living One who Sees Me”.

15 # Gal 4.22 Hagar bore Abram a son, and he named him Ishmael. 16Abram was 86 years old at the time.

Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.

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Genesis 16

Genesis 16